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>I`m of the opinion that the BR designers snuck in the crossbow rule in
>an attempt to "correct" the major problem that crossbows had in 2e D&D
>(basically, that they did not accurately represent the lethality of a
>crossbow as a weapon). It seems to be to be a very good 2e house rule
>that made it into print as a campaign rule.

I agree that that was their intention. I guess the question becomes then,
"did they go far enough in 3e?"

I`ve fired a LOT of bows and crossbows in my time, and my personal take on
the subject is that they certainly improved crossbows in 3e, but they still
aren`t "realistic" in many regards. One thing that I thought was a good
addition to the 1e-2e rules was the "point blank" concept that was
sometimes used. Unfortunately, the rule itself was a little unwieldy for
practical use when playing out combat, but it was the kernal of a good idea.

At 12:04 AM 10/8/2002 +0200, Carl Cramer wrote:

>We let crossbows cause auto-criticals on any threat roll that is also a hit
>within 30 ft. That way, anyone with a crossbow has at least a 5% chance of
>inflicting a critical hit - which makes them pretty dangerous militia
>weapons.

Now, that`s a very interesting additional rule. I like it. It
incorporates the aforementioned "point blank" concept but is much easier to
handle. Kudos.

> What do you mean by those reload times? 1 per round and 1/2 per round per
> the core rules, or is it something else?
>

Standard reload times

>> We also made the Hand Crossbow a martial weapon (at least for Ainureans),
>> and it is qute a common cavalry weapon - check the illustration on the
>> cavalry war cards.
>
> That seems sensible. Any particular cultures that use the hand crossbow
> other than Anuireans? I`d probably limit it to Anuirean, Brecht and maybe
> the Khinasi, personally.

I dedided not to meddle too much with this - I just changed the rule for
Ainureans.

Otherwise, I would make the composite bows exotic for all except Vos and
Khinansi, while hand crossbows would be marital for Brechts and Ainureans.